An Accidental Military Marriage

Jiang Moli stared blankly at the contents of the drawer for a long moment.

It was the sanitary napkins she had mentioned to Lu Cheng before.

At the time, Lu Cheng had promised her he would have them delivered to her home in a couple of days. When two days passed and they hadn’t arrived, she had assumed he’d forgotten.

She hadn’t expected this...

Jiang Moli closed the drawer and turned her head to look at the picture frame on the desk.

Judging by the clothes and the background, it must have been a photo taken at the train station when Lu Cheng enlisted.

In the photo, his features were handsome, his gaze deep and soulful, and he was beaming at her with a brilliant smile.

From the time they met until now, it had only been a few short days, but the man’s thoughtfulness and attention to detail were like a gentle rain, seeping silently into her heart.

"System, what’s my mission progress at now?"

『Mission Progress: 2890/10000. Personal Account Balance: 28,900,000. Keep it up, Host! Your mission is already over a quarter complete. Fantastic work!』

"Don’t just give me empty encouragement. How about something more tangible? For example, how about giving me 500 Disdain Points?"

The system’s silence was deafening.

...

On the provincial highway to Dian City, four Jiefang trucks carrying one hundred soldiers were traveling through the night toward the disaster area.

Lu Cheng sat in the back of one of the trucks, discussing the disaster relief plan with Kang Zhiqiang.

Kang Zhiqiang was a company commander from the Kun City military region. He and his entire company had been temporarily assigned to Lu Cheng’s command to support the relief efforts in Dian City.

Once the plan was settled, Lu Cheng raised his wrist to check his watch and said to Kang Zhiqiang, "Let’s leave it at that for now. We still have about five or six hours before we reach Dian City. Get some rest and conserve your energy."

"Congratulations, Camp Commander Lu."

Seeing Lu Cheng look up, Kang Zhiqiang said with a smile, "I heard from my regimental commander before we set out. He said you got married today. I wish you a happy marriage, a lifetime of happiness, and may you have a son soon."

The rest of the men in the truck were Kang Zhiqiang’s soldiers. Without waiting for his command, they all shouted in unison:

"We wish Camp Commander Lu a happy marriage! A lifetime of happiness! And a son soon!"

Lu Cheng gave a hearty salute in return. "Thank you all for the well wishes. Once the relief effort is over, I’ll treat everyone to wedding candy."

The entire truck of soldiers cheered and hollered.

Gazing at the unfamiliar yet earnest smiling faces, Lu Cheng’s thoughts couldn’t help but fly back to Rongcheng, a thousand miles away.

’I wonder what my wife is doing right now? Is she asleep?’

But then he remembered that his wife wanted to divorce him, and the smile instantly vanished from his face.

...

At daybreak, the Jiefang trucks arrived at the outskirts of the disaster area.

The affected regions were all in the mountains, with no roads for the trucks to drive on. They could only proceed on foot.

After nearly two hours of trekking, they finally reached the first affected area.

The terrain here was relatively flat, and the houses were built far apart. Most of the villagers had managed to escape safely, but two families were still buried deep under the rubble.

After deploying the rescue operation and leaving twenty soldiers to help the villagers rescue those who were buried, Lu Cheng led the remaining men deeper into the heart of the disaster zone.

...

Li Hongying pleaded earnestly with her daughter. "Xiao Qing, if you go to them empty-handed like this, people will laugh at you for being desperate. They’ll look down on you. Just listen to your Uncle Jiang and wait at home for Jia Ming to come back."

Jiang Qing focused on packing her luggage, not even looking up. "This isn’t my home."

"How can you say that? Hasn’t your Uncle Jiang been good to you? You go against his wishes at every turn, yet he’s still willing to give you money for your dowry."

Staring at the money Li Hongying offered, a flicker of conflict crossed Jiang Qing’s eyes.

’If it were 6 yuan, she could have refused without a second thought. But 66 yuan was a lot of money; after all, it was more than all the money she had to her name.’

’With this extra 66 yuan, her life would be much easier from now on.’

’But if she took it, knowing Jiang Dahai’s hypocrisy, he would definitely use it to hold over her in the future.’

’Jiang Moli was bound to cause some huge trouble, and if she didn’t completely sever ties with the Jiang family now, she would inevitably be dragged down with them later.’

"I don’t want the money."

Li Hongying’s eyes widened. "You don’t want it? Why not?"

"A daughter married off is like water splashed out the door. Once I walk out this door today, I will no longer be a daughter of the Jiang family. Whether my life is good or bad from now on will depend on my own abilities. I don’t need an outsider like him worrying about me."

Li Hongying simply couldn’t understand. "Your Uncle Jiang has raised you for ten years, after all. For you to say something like that is truly heartless."

Jiang Qing let out a cold laugh. "He just treated my mother and me as free laborers. In his eyes, we were no different from the mules and oxen raised in the countryside!"

Li Hongying was so angry her eyes turned red. "Why do you always think the worst of your Uncle Jiang? He never let you go hungry or cold, and he even sent you to school. He’s been good enough to you! You think making you do chores is being mean to you, but go ask around! Which family’s daughter doesn’t do housework and serve her elders?"

"Growing up, Jiang Moli never had to do a thing! On what grounds does she get to eat well and be lazy, reaping rewards she didn’t earn, while I have to work like a beast of burden? Why?!"

Seeing her daughter’s grief and indignation, Li Hongying felt both helpless and heartbroken.

"Xiao Qing, don’t always compare yourself to Moli. She was born with a better lot in life than you. She has a father who’s both capable and dotes on her. Now that she’s married, she has a husband who dotes on and pampers her too. This is her good fortune. You can’t be envious of it."

These words did nothing to soothe Jiang Qing’s emotions. Instead, they ignited a fierce competitive drive deep within her.

"Good fortune? The tables can always turn. I refuse to believe she’ll be lucky her whole life!"

Ignoring Li Hongying’s repeated pleas, Jiang Qing stubbornly left the Jiang family home.

She walked into the brilliant morning sun, her steps firm, her figure solitary and resolute, like a soldier marching off to war.

...

Taking advantage of the good weather, Wu Miaoyun came over to the Lu Family’s home to make shoe insoles with An Hui.

People sweat more in the summer, so insoles had to be changed daily. They needed to make plenty for the family.

The process used old homespun and coarse cloth. You would wash it, cut it into flat pieces, and layer them with paste to create a thick fabric board. A final layer of white cotton was applied to the top, and the whole thing was left in the sun to dry completely. Then, you’d use a pattern to cut out the insole shape, stitch it tightly with a needle and thread, and finish by binding the edges with a strip of cloth. That’s how a pair of insoles was made.

Some of the more skilled women would even embroider beautiful patterns and designs onto the insoles.

Ma Hongmei was using a kettle to steam the cloth pieces flat, An Hui was brushing paste onto cardboard, and Wu Miaoyun was laying the cloth pieces onto the paste-covered cardboard.

Wu Miaoyun’s hands didn’t stop moving, but her eyes darted left and right. "Hui, I don’t see your third son’s wife. Did she go out?"

An Hui snorted. "Her Ladyship hasn’t gotten up yet."

Wu Miaoyun glanced at the clock on the wall, incredulous. "It’s already 10 o’clock, and she’s still sleeping?"

Seeing An Hui’s silence, Wu Miaoyun said, "That won’t do. You can’t control how she was at her parents’ house, but now that she’s in your family, you’re the mother-in-law. You have to lay down the rules. You can’t just let her have her way."

An Hui found this amusing. "What rules? This isn’t the old society anymore. Aren’t you afraid of people laughing?"

Wu Miaoyun disagreed. "People need to be trained, and daughters-in-law are no different. The more you spoil her, the lazier she’ll get. When my eldest daughter-in-law first married into the family, she couldn’t do this and didn’t want to do that. But after all these years of my training, she’s now virtuous, sensible, and filial."

An Hui was somewhat swayed.

What mother-in-law didn’t want her daughter-in-law to be virtuous, sensible, and filial?

She looked at Wu Miaoyun. "So how did you train your eldest daughter-in-law?"

Wu Miaoyun patted her chest confidently. "Don’t you worry. Leave it to me."